My Work in NYC

Yeah, yeah, yeah - it's been too long - I'm a terrible blogger and worse self-promoter and all that...

Because if I was any good at self-promotion I would have clamored that my work was in a show in New York City. My dear friend (and celebrated artist) Jon Coffelt co-curated the show/collection at Central Booking. Central Booking is "Brooklyn’s own space focusing on the art of the book and its fuller integration into the mainstream art world".

This is the announcement. One of those tiny names is mine. Pretty cool.



These are the prints that were in the exhibition:

Roller Derby Girl - collograph print

Modigliani's Studio - linoleum block print

Superman -woodblock print

Facebook meets Blogger - aka 'Rhett wrote on Scarlett's wall'

Rhett & Scarlett -- 6"x 9" monotype print with watercolor

Greetings, gentle readers. All worlds merge on the internet it seems, as my blog is now on my facebook page. Thanks to all of you who confirmed my blog ownership (...what an odd thing to say). I finally gave in and joined the grand social network, and I'm glad I did. Its been wonderful to reconnect with so many old friends - if any of you have stumbled across this blog...welcome! This is the ongoing chronicle of my return to printmaking. Some of you have prints of mine that I gave to you years ago, and it's wonderful to hear that they still have a place in your heart and in your home. If it's your first time visiting, poke around, look at some older posts, I welcome comments and questions. If you like what you see, come back again (you can even subscribe if that strikes your fancy) and see what's new.

Today's print, from my recent Hollywood Icons show, is "Rhett & Scarlett" from Gone with theWind. This print is a monotype created by covering a metal plate in printing ink and then carefully removing ink with paper towels, blending stumps, q-tips, etc., to define the image. Paper is then placed over the plate, the plate is run through the press transferring the ink to the paper and...voila! I then watercolored the print after the ink had dried.

the inked plate ready for printing

Scarlett wrote on Rhett's wall: I only know that I love you.
Rhett wrote on Scarlett's wall: That's your misfortune.

Indiana Jones

Raiders of the Lost Ark 12 x 18" original linocut print artist's proof


The Hollywood icons show is closing in fast, and I'm happy to say the prints are finished (whew!). Everything went to the frame shop on Monday, and the handful of prints I'm framing myself are finished (Thanks, B!). Now the real fun (not) begins: address lists, frame labels, packing and shipping, etc.

Today's Indy post is rather fortuitous. As I type this the new Indy flick, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is about an hour from premiering here on the west coast (and already open on the east coast).

I didn't really appreciate Raiders until I was an adult. As a child I wanted Han Solo to fight Darth Vader, not Nazis... but I digress.

These images are a little wonky, because at 12 x 18" the prints are too large to scan, so I had to photograph them.

Raiders of the Lost Ark detail


Carving the linoleum block in process

This is about two thirds of the way through the carving process. The white stuff is baby powder. By pushing the powder into the areas that have been cut away, it creates a nice contrast allowing 'the image' to be seen much more easily ( a simple solution and very handy).


inking the block during the printing process


Raiders framed and ready for the show

At 12 x 18" (approx. 20 x 25" framed) this is certainly one of the largest pieces of the show.

Stay tuned. More to come.

The Six Million Dollar Man: Reboot

The Six Million Dollar Man 3"x 4" linoleum block print with watercolor

For those of you following any of this, you may have noticed this is my second $6,000,000 man piece. I was having trouble getting a good print off of the collograph plate, so I decided to take another crack at it. Printmaking can sometimes have a high percentage of things that don't work out. Also since doing the first piece, I printed a bionic woman print (below) that is also 3"x 4", and I thought a pairing might be nice.

The first print above is printed with black relief ink and watercolored after the ink has dried.


The Six Million Dollar Man 3"x 4" linoleum block print with chine collé

This print is printed in transparent black relief ink on top of a vintage merchandising image from the Six Million Dollar Man toy line (which I had many toys from... Bigfoot, anyone?). The vintage image is on a thin piece of paper with glue on the back of it. The pressure of the printing press simultaneously transfers the image from the block to the chine collé paper and adheres the chine collé paper to the thicker printmaking paper.


The Six Million Dollar Man 3"x 4" two- color linoleum block print

This is a two-color relief print. First an uncut linoleum block is inked with transparent red ink and printed. Then the image block is inked in black and carefully lined up and printed on top of the red.

All three prints are available for purchase in my etsy shop ... here.

hot off the press

Carnac the Magnificent

Carnac the Magnificent - 3" x 3" two-color reduction woodblock print

I thought I'd revisit Johnny Carson since he was recently named the number one television icon. Here for your consideration is Johnny as Carnac the Magnificent.

(Carnac holds the sealed envelope up to his turban)

CARNAC: Sis boom bah.

ED McMAHON: Sis boom bah?

(Carnac rips the envelope open and removes the card)

CARNAC (reading): Describe the sound made when a sheep explodes.

This print is a two-color reduction (or suicide) print. It is so named because in this process multiple colors are printed from a single block (usually there is a separate block for each color). The block is carved, one color is printed, then more of the block is carved away, then another color is printed, and so on. Once you carve away more of the block and begin printing the next color, there is no going back. So you have to be careful in the layout and planning stage.


A few prints with only the first color printed.


Inking the block with the second color after more carving.


The second stage of the block.



A finished print pulled from the block.

Redd Foxx

Redd Foxx - 5" x 6" collograph print with à la poupée

The latest entry in the Hollywood icons series is actor/comedian Redd Foxx of Sanford and Son fame. A little research turned up Foxx was also an artist. To view some of his artwork click here to visit the official Redd Foxx website.
The plate for this print (below) was simply made of mat board and glue. This was a test to see if the detail required for a portrait could be captured in lines of glue. All the lines on the plate are glue applied with a fine applicator tip. When inking the plate, inks are applied with brushes and q-tips for most of the color. Then the "lines" are inked by top-rolling a dark color onto the raised lines of glue. Click on the image of the plate for more detail.

"Elizabeth, I'm coming to join you, honey!"

The plate after printing

Hot off the press

"Heeeeeeeere's Johnny!"

"Heeeeeeeere's Johnny" 5 x 11 monotype print


the plate ready for printing


the moment of truth


freshly pulled print and plate with residual ink

True Grit

True Grit 4 x 4 woodblock print

John Wayne played Rooster Cogburn in the 1969 film True Grit, for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor. John Wayne epitomized rugged masculinity, was larger than life, and my dad loved him. There's a line in the Statler Brothers song Whatever Happened to Randolph Scott? that sums up my father's (and his generation's) feelings about John Wayne and what he represented in society: "True Grit's the only movie I've really understood in years." My father was also fond of saying "real men don't eat quiche".

Like the Clint Eastwood print, this is also a two-color woodblock print. The blue color field is printed first, then the image, inked in black, is printed on top of it.

inking the block

fresh off the press